


Sight

by nekonexus



Category: Saiyuki Gaiden
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-15
Updated: 2011-11-15
Packaged: 2017-10-26 02:52:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/277866
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekonexus/pseuds/nekonexus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"The gentleman learns, whether he is studying or not studying, whether he is at rest or at play alike." ~ Confucius</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sight

There are koi in Kanzeon Bosatsu's viewing pond. They lounge beneath the lotus leaves, or swim in meandering patterns between them. At times, they disturb the view with ripples from their motion, or cast shadows with the translucent veils of their fins.

Kanzeon never rebukes them; never even comments on the blurring, shifting visions of the world Below. Se only watches. At times, Goujun has stood beside hir, watching as se watches, knowing he does not see what se sees.

To still waves on the Ocean would be to change the fundamental essence of the Ocean; so, too, he understands, to stop the koi would be to change the nature of the pond. But in the Ocean, he speaks the language of the waves, he knows how to see through what obscures others' vision.

He cannot see what the koi obscure.

#

"What do you see?" Kanzeon asks.

Part of his army is deployed Below. He had hoped to see their progress, to observe the challenges they faced, to see the face of their foe - this alleged monster youkai. But the koi are unhappy today; their restless motion has filled the pond with shadows and smears of light that resolve into nothing.

"Not what I had hoped," Goujun replies.

Taking a deep breath, he pushes the frustration from his mind. Non-attachment is a difficult thing for a dragon.

And in the silence that follows, in releasing the desire to _know_ , he hears the koi speak. Swifter than thought, they tell each other tales of what passes Below. Their voices jumble over each other - each one distinct, each one a thread in a cacophonic melody of imperfect harmonies. Each swish of a fin, each ripple, each breath through their gills - it is all a part of the story. It is all a part of what se _sees_ when se watches.

He understands: the pond is as vast as his Ocean, and no different. He has been trying to see _through_ that which is part of the picture.

Kanzeon extends hir arm. Touches one fingertip to the water's surface. Hir bracelets chime softly. Everything stills - the water, the koi, the very air. Goujun does not even dare to draw breath. Beneath hir finger, the view becomes stunningly clear, so precise one might believe one was present in the scene. A moment later, it has surpassed even clarity to become diamond-edged - a series of crystalline refractions. Every facet shows the scene from another angle; what might be, what is, what was, what never was, what ever will be.

Hir bracelets chime again as Kanzeon releases the view. The koi murmur to themselves as they wend their way beneath the lotus leaves.

Goujun exhales. Inhales. Closes his eyes, but sees only stars in an ocean of dark.

"What do you see?"

"Knowledge - too vast for understanding." Goujun looks at Kanzeon, sees mercy in hir smile as it is in hir nature.

Se rests one bare foot on the low rock wall of the pond. Dipping toes with brightly painted nails into the water, se makes hir own ripples.

"What you had hoped to see," Kanzeon says, hir voice so low he almost doesn't hear.

Between the ripples, he sees black-clad figures, an enormous beast the likes of which he has never encountered, and splashes of red, red blood.

Goujun sighs. A few moments later, he takes his leave.

He knows he will return to Kanzeon's pond, when once again he hopes to see.


End file.
